The IDC research showed analytics leader SAS with a 36.2 percent share of the 2012 global advanced analytics, up almost a percentage point from a year earlier and twice the market share of the next closest competitor. In fact, all of the other named advanced analytics providers' market share combined totaled just 24.9 percent.

SAS' 2012 share in advanced analytics of 36.2 increased from 35.3 percent in 2011 and 34.9 percent in 2010, outpacing growth of the overall advance analytics market, according to IDC.

In addition, IDC ranked SAS as a top five overall business analytics provider. SAS was also among top five contenders in numerous subcategories, including: query and reporting, content analytics, data warehouse generation, supply chain, services operations, and CRM analytic applications and financial performance and strategy management.

The market research numbers, with SAS as the top advanced analytics supplier, reflect customer confidence that SAS Analytics with its 37-year pedigree offers customers improved organizational performance, said Jim Davis, SAS Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer.

"SAS investment and innovation since its 1976 founding has produced a rich analytics portfolio that organizations of all sizes and types benefit from. Whether it is a midsize vacation rental company looking to optimize cost controls and improve customer satisfaction, or a multinational corporation analyzing risk or marketing campaigns, SAS Analytics offer a solid return on investment. The IDC vendor share report validates that," said Davis.

"We previously captured a lot of cost data with Excel, but decided there had to be a better way to automate cost analyses and reduce manual data pulls. We quickly became more efficient and more effective with our best resources: people," said company Operations Manager Clark Twiddy. "With SAS Analytics we now track myriad expenditures dynamically day-to-day, month-to-month, and year-to-year. This used to take days or even weeks, but it now takes a few seconds. We've used that extra time to develop market insights that are leading us to consider a full-time data scientist position and distinct market segment approaches."

SAS Analytics continue to yield other benefits for Twiddy. The company manages maintenance for its homeowners, who are naturally curious about the cost of services. SAS Analytics allows Twiddy staff to quickly show how specific costs compare to market wide industry averages. Using SAS Analytics, the company is also able to forecast and streamline management of routine services, such as cleaning hot tubs and pools before guests arrive. Importantly, some of the best insights gleaned from SAS Analytics include rental rates and margin analysis.

"As we see much bigger companies begin to enter this vacation market, we believe that the technologies of bigger companies beating out the small companies is no longer the case," said Twiddy. "It's now a matter of agile companies outcompeting slow companies, regardless of size, and SAS Analytics helped us get intelligent information with much greater velocity."

About SAS

SAS is the leader in analytics. Through innovative analytics, business intelligence and data management software and services, SAS helps customers at more than 80,000 sites make better decisions faster. Since 1976, SAS has been giving customers around the world THE POWER TO KNOW®.